Earlier this week, following both the kangaroo court that was RFK Jr. congressional hearing and the news that the Trump admin may crack down on Tylenol (of all things), we wondered if there really wasn’t something more serious for MAHA to be focusing on… like making an actual impact and banning pharma ads on TV. After all, it’s just the US and New Zealand that still allow pharma ads to fund what are largely extremely liberal cable TV stations: why not help US health at the grass roots level by pulling back on the US addiction with, well, drug addiction. And if the Trump admin can put much of the liberal mainstream media out of business for selling snake oil – in some cases literally – even better.
And while we didn’t expect our lament to generate any traction, we were very surprised to learn that late on Tuesday, the Trump admin announced a crackdown on pharmaceutical advertising on television and social media platforms, potentially disrupting billions of dollars in annual ad spending.
President Trump signed a presidential memorandum on Tuesday that calls on federal health agencies to require pharmaceutical companies to disclose more side effects in their ads and enforce existing rules about misleading ads. The administration is pitching the moves as a way to increase transparency for patients, and while it is not an outright ban as many had hoped for, it is a start, and it will certainly had an adverse effect as drug makers scramble to avoid penalties and sanctions.
If the drug companies were required to disclose more ‘side-effects’ in these ads…. they’d be 10 minutes long.
Abolition or bust. No compromise, no quarter.
Yes, no drug advertising on the little idiot box or the littler idiot box!
been screaming for this for years especially the late night where ever break is drug commercials for gays.
They took off cigarette ads in 1970, so just remove drug ads too..
Too late. Polyethylene glycol is already in your common cardiac meds, Insulin, dental anesthetics, etc. Get it? Pegalated lipid nanotechnology.
“Drug companies spent $10.8 billion in 2024 on direct-to-consumer pharmaceutical advertising”
and where did/do they get that $$?? they get from the people who buy, not just the advertised drug, but, any and all the drugs the company sells. yes, even the OTC non prescription drugs have a small amount tacked on to help pay for advertising.
stop the madness. keep the prescription decisions in the hands of the educated and trained doctors and out of the hands of the slick advertising board rooms.